Refined estimates for simple blow-ups of the scalar curvature equation on $S^n$

Abstract

In their work on a sharp compactness theorem for the Yamabe problem, Khuri, Marques and Schoen apply a refined blow-up analysis (what we call `second order blow-up argument' in this article) to obtain highly accurate approximate solutions for the Yamabe equation. As for the conformal scalar curvature equation on S^n with n > 3, we examine the second order blow-up argument and obtain refined estimate for a blow-up sequence near a simple blow-up point. The estimate involves local effect from the Taylor expansion of the scalar curvature function, global effect from other blow-up points, and the balance formula as expressed in the Pohozaev identity in an essential way.